Bainford

This is fantastic. Lots of possibilities. Thanks for sharing.

Things are looking great. I love the natural patina of the original paint, and other bright surfaces, too.

Sure, but in the fullness of time that is not sustainable. The LHS may shoulder our tariff burden for a while, and the weaker ones will follow suit to remain competitive, and milk their existence for as long as they can, and some of them will eventually lose. If we pay $6 tariff on a kit, that means the LHS has to cough up $12 per kit, and that has to come from the profit of that kit. Actually, it may not be quite that bad, as the LHS will pay a tariff on wholesale cost, while we pay a tariff on retail cost. But lets say that cuts the LHS share of the burden down to $6 (an optimistic guess, I think), that must still leave a pretty thin profit margin on a model kit sale. Ultimately, the consumer is going to have to eat the full cost. Unfortunately, it is still going to happen at the cost of a few LHS. I realise my take on this is rather simplified, but nonetheless, the math doesn't work.

There are many reasons to not open a kit, but never let one of them be monetary value. It's pointless in the end.

If you use that decal, you will need to clear coat it with something first, or it will fall to pieces as soon as it hits the water. Micro Scale makes a product just for this, and others do too, and some people give them a couple light coats of Tamiya clear though I've not tried it. A fresh decal is clearly your best bet. I wouldn't be surprised if there was already a large Bud decal out there, somewhere.

Welcome to the forum, Patrick. It's a great place to get back into the hobby.

Welcome to the forum, James.

Additionally, those LHS will also have to deal with the same tariff system when they purchase stock, and pass the fees along to the consumer accordingly.

When Mr. Carson showed up in the pits that day with the first parachute fastened to a drag car, there must have been some serious head shaking from his contemporaries. But, it must have been a cool sight from the stands when that first parachute popped at the end of the strip.

Excellent! I'm changing my answer to this.

I just spent a good hour or so pouring through the restoration. I admire your maintaining as much original plastic as possible. Much more difficult than recreating from scratch, I'm sure. My favourite part was chapter 3; it was like an archeological dig as the paint layers disappeared and the original body work was revealed. Cool stuff. And the restoration looks awesome. The whole story is very cool, and I must say; some very innovative work for a 14 year old. Very impressive. By the way, I dig the bright green magneto and starter motor.

You say you don't want to butcher a Mustang frame, but I can't think of a better place to start. If I was building a Falcon Ranchero, the AMT 67 Mustang is the first place I would look for a donor chassis. I don't know how much fitting will be required, or if the wheelbase aligns. There will be some need to modify things, but the chassis is prototypically correct ( more or less) and has decent detail.

Is it AI? I'm on my phone and didn't notice. I never would have posted it if I realised that.

No, Revell corrected it for the Boss 302 release. It's still not 100%, but it is very much better than it was originally. If you wish to build a non-Boss '69 Mustang, you will still need the old (un-fixed) '69 Mach 1 kit, and put the Boss 302 front end on it. The Boss doesn't have the scoops behind the doors that other Mustang Sportsroofs had. Hopefully we will see a Mach 1 released someday with the corrected front end.

I believe you are experiencing Murphy's 1st Law of Model Kit Purchasing; The availability of good deals on OOP kits is inversely proportional to your desire to have the kit. Curiously, this occurs for each of us individually. I believe this supports the 'many universes theory' of quantum physics.

Interesting technique. The roof looks great.

That is one very cool wagon.

Cool subject! Not for beginners, me thinks. Looking forward to seeing you wrestle this one to the ground.

Interesting project. It's coming along very nicely. I love seeing these off-the-beaten-path subjects being built.

Very cool little model, Michael. Your weathering is top notch, very authentic.

Very cool stuff, Steve. Great style, and nice work on the grill conversion.

Cool custom. Love the mail-slot rear window, and really glad to see the six.

I dig it! Cool little camper.

Cool project. Lovely work so far, Charles. The chassis is super nice, and excellent work on the grill guard. That must have been a chore. Looking forward to watching this one come together.